The curb-cut effect is a phenomenon that describes how products and policies designed for people with disabilities often end up helping everyone else. The actual curb-cut is the part of the curve that is cut on an angle to allow those with a wheel-chair have easy access on and off the curb. Although this curb-cut was assigned for people with disabilities, it is also a convenience that most of us rarely notice.
The actual curb-cut not only helps people with disabilities on a wheel-chair, it also helps those who are biking, skateboard, using a baby stroller, or even pushing a grocery cart in the parking lot. It was created with one purpose in mind but had a cascading effect that helped more than just one group. Same thing can be said for elevators, cross walk signs, and even closed-captioning on televisions.
